Davidson's George Mason-like win just as unfathomable

Intellectually, I'm still having a hard time with Davidson's victory against Georgetown on Sunday. Obviously it happened. I know it happened. I saw it happen.

But I don't understand how it happened. Maybe I never will. Definitely not enough time has passed for me to come to grips with it now, just two days later.

Davidson did not win on talent alone Sunday, despite Stephen Curry's lights-out shooting. (AP)

The same thing happened to me, and maybe to you, in 2006 when George Mason beat Connecticut in the Elite Eight. There was no way George Mason could beat Connecticut that year. George Mason center Will Thomas was short. Power forward Jai Lewis was fat. Its guards were scrawny.

UConn had three NBA players in its frontcourt, including Rudy Gay, who is averaging 20 points per game for the Memphis Grizzlies, and Josh Boone, who has 12 double-doubles this season for the Nets. UConn's point guard, Marcus Williams, also plays for the Nets. He once scored 21 points in a single quarter against the Phoenix Suns.

Obviously I didn't know any of those future NBA stats back on March 25, 2006, but I knew this: George Mason can't beat UConn. So I wrote that before the game: George Mason can't beat UConn.

Oops.

Maybe the first word of this story -- intellectually -- was a poor choice, because maybe I'm just too dumb to get it. Almost exactly two years later, Davidson and Georgetown ran onto the same floor at the same time for an NCAA tournament game, and I wrote it again: Davidson can't beat Georgetown. Luckily for me I didn't write it for CBSSports.com. I just wrote it on my cell phone to a friend who asked what I was doing:

About to watch Davidson get crushed by Georgetown.

See? I'm stupid. Maybe you are, too. But maybe I don't want to be smart if being smart means looking at the players at Georgetown, and looking at the players at Davidson, and deducing that Davidson has a realistic chance of winning that game.

Davidson's players aren't bad. Not at all. Their role players are smart and fearless, and their backcourt is exceptional. Point guard Jason Richards could start for most teams in college basketball. Stephen Curry would be the best player on all but two teams in the country, those teams being Kansas State (Michael Beasley) and North Carolina (Tyler Hansbrough). Considering that Beasley and Hansbrough are power forwards, does that mean I'm calling Stephen Curry the best guard in college basketball? I suppose it does.

But nobody else on Davidson's team could play for Georgetown, much less start for the Hoyas. Georgetown has 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert at center and brings 6-9 Vernon Macklin and 6-8 Patrick Ewing off the bench. Davidson's big men aren't as big as that. Davidson's big men aren't even as big as Georgetown's small forward, DaJuan Summers.

So how did Davidson do it? Probably the same way George Mason did it two years ago against Connecticut. On the defensive end Davidson disrupted Georgetown in subtle ways -- taking the ball out of point guard Johnathan Wallace's hands, putting it into the less-secure mitts of Summers, tweaking its unassuming full-court pressure -- and saw those small changes pay off here and there, just enough to keep the Wildcats in the game even as Curry was struggling to score. Georgetown led by 15 with 14½ minutes to play.

Then Curry scored on a ridiculous four-point play, and maybe that's how these upsets happen. With about 12 minutes left, Georgetown led 50-39 but the focus of the game had changed. It no longer mattered that Georgetown had the best collection of players on the court. What mattered now was that Davidson had the best single player, Stephen Curry -- and everyone on both teams knew it.

As Curry continued to hit shots and the gap continued to close, Davidson believed what was happening. Davidson was trying to win. Georgetown couldn't believe it. Georgetown was trying not to lose. Advantage underdog in that situation, every day of the week.

But, listen: I was right there with those Hoyas. I couldn't believe what was happening myself. And when it was over, the lesson still had not sunk in. Go back and read what I wrote three hours later after the second game Sunday at the RBC Center. After watching North Carolina destroy Arkansas, I predicted that the Tar Heels' Sweet 16 opponent, Washington State, won't be able to hang with them.

Intellectually, I know I'm right. Washington State has some guys who could get into Roy Williams' rotation, but the Cougars don't have one player who could start for North Carolina. Not one. And they're supposed to beat North Carolina?

It can't happen, but it does. That's why they play the game.

And that's why we watch.